Air Force Apologizes For Planning MLK Jr. Day ‘Fun Shoot’ At Georgia Base

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Georgia Air Force officials apologized and pulled flyers advertising a shooting event to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day after public outcry, calling the framing of the event an “honest mistake.”

The flyer, which made the rounds on social media Thursday evening, promoted a “fun shoot” at the local Air Force base’s trap and skeet club on Jan. 18, the day of the famed civil rights leader’s birthday.

A statement provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said the flyer was created by a marketing team that will be provided “remedial training” after the incident.

“We realized the inappropriateness of the advertisement several days ago and immediately began removing the flyer. There was no malice of forethought in the flyer’s creation and it was never the base’s intention to portray Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in a negative light,” the statement said.

It was not clear whether the event was cancelled.

Atlanta-based reporter Greg Bluestein tweeted a photo of the flier:

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Notable Replies

  1. Yeah, I’d say some remedial training is needed. What grade do people learn about MLK these days, anyway? Are those who created this poster smarter than a 5th grader?

  2. Avatar for enon enon says:

    good grief…
    from those sailors who couldn’t navigate (apparently that was the actual cause of them drifting into iranian waters) to this, is the pentagon actively seeking people with no fucking common sense whatsoever…

  3. Avatar for jw1 jw1 says:

    Spent 25yrs in marketing/design.
    I got nuthin’.
    We’re doomed.

    jw1

  4. Avatar for pshah pshah says:

    I didn’t realize the Air Force had planes so fast, they can go back to fight battles 50 years in the past.

  5. How about canceling the event altogether!

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